God Unchanged

Οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοι Θεὸς πρόφατος.  Πῶς οὖν Θεοποιεῖται καθ' ὑμᾶς ἄνθρωπος τῇ πρὸς τὸν Λόγον σχετικῇ συναφεὶᾳ καὶ κοινωνὸς τῷ Πατρὶ τῆς δόξης καὶ  τῆς ἀξίας δείκνυται; Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἄνθρωπον προσφάτως θεοποιεῖσθαι φάσκομεν· ἀλλὰ τὸν πρὸ αἰώνων ὄντα Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Θεὸν, σεσαρκῶσθαι ἀτρέπτως. Μεμένηκεν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔλαττον Θεὸς, καὶ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος. Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Δαμασκηνός, Κατὰ τῆς Αἱρεσεως Των Νεστοριανῶν Source: Migne PG 95.194

'There shall not be among you a recent God.' 1  How then according to you does God make a man who is bound to the Word yet is deprived of the same glory and dignity with the Father? We say God made such a man recently, but that from eternity He truly was the Son of God and God, unchanged by the Incarnation. He remaining nothing less than God while made man. Saint John of Damascus, Against the Nestorian Heretics.   1  Ps 80.10

Wisdom And The Incarnation

Quapropter, cum illa veritate perfruendum sit quae incommutabiliter vivit, et in ea trinitas Deus, auctor et conditor universitatis, rebus quas condidit consulat, purgandus est animus, ut et perspicere illam lucem valeat et inherere perspectae. Quam purgationem quasi ambulationem quamdam et quasi navigationem ad patriam esse arbitremur. Non enim ad eum qui ubique praesens est locis movemur, sed bono studio bonisque moribus. Quod non possumus, nisi ipsa Sapientia tantae etiam nostrae infirmitati congruere dignaretur et vivendi nobis praeberet exemplum, non aliter quam in homine, quoniam et nos homines sumus. Sed quia nos cum ad illam venimus, sapienter facimus; ipsa cum ad nos venit, ab hominibus superbis quasi stulte fecisse putata est. Et quoniam nos cum ad illam venimus, convalescimus; ipsa cum ad nos venit, quasi infirma existimata est. Sed quod stultum est Dei, sapientius est hominibus, et quod infirmum est Dei, fortius est hominibus. Cum ergo ipsa sit patria, viam se quoque nobis fecit ad patriam. Et cum sano et puro interiori oculo ubique sit praesens, eorum qui oculum illum infirmum immundumque habent, oculis etiam carneis apparere dignata est. Quia enim in Sapientia Dei non poterat mundus per sapientiam cognoscere Deum, placuit Deo per stultitiam praedicationis salvos facere credentes. Non igitur per locorum spatia veniendo, sed in carne mortali mortalibus apparendo, venisse ad nos dicitur. Illuc ergo venit ubi erat, quia in hoc mundo erat et mundus per eam factus est. Sed quoniam cupiditate fruendi pro ipso Creatore creatura homines configurati huic mundo et mundi nomine congruentissime vocati non eam cognoverunt, propterea dixit Evangelista: Et mundus eam non cognovit. Itaque in Sapientia Dei non poterat mundus per Sapientiam cognoscere Deum. Cur ergo venit cum hic esset, nisi quia placuit Deo per stultitiam praedicationis salvos facere credentes? Quomodo venit, nisi quod Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis? Sicuti cum loquimur, ut id quod animo gerimus in audientis animum per aures carneas illabatur, fit sonus verbum quod corde gestamus, et locutio vocatur. Nec tamen in eumdem sonum cogitatio nostra convertitur, sed apud se manens integra, formam vocis qua se insinuet auribus, sine aliqua labe suae mutationis assumit. Ita Verbum Dei non commutatum, caro tamen factum est ut habitaret in nobis. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Doctrina Christiana, Liber I, Caput X-XIII Source: Migne PL 34 23-24

Whence, since one must take joy in the truth which lives without change, and since in this the triune God, creator and founder of all things, in that which he has established takes counsel, the soul must be purified that it may be able to perceive that light, and to adhere to what is perceived. Which purification we should judge as a journey and voyage to our native land. For it is not that we come to Him who is in every place by change of place, but by good desires and good habits. Of which we would not be capable, had not Wisdom condescended to adapt Himself to our weakness, and to show us an example of living, not in any other way but that of man because we are men. But because we, when we come to Him, act wisely, He when He came to us was thought to have acted foolishly by proud men. And because we when we come to Him are strengthened, He when He came to us was thought to be weak. But 'the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.' 1 And thus with Wisdom our home, He also made Himself the way by which we should reach our home. And though He is present everywhere to the healthy and pure inner eye, He condescended to make Himself manifest to the outward eye of those whose inward sight is weak and soiled. 'For in the wisdom of God the world was not able by wisdom to know God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.' 2 Not then by passing through space, but because He appeared to mortal men in mortal flesh, is He said to have come to us. For He came where He had always been, because 'He was in the world, and the world was made by Him.' 3 But since men, who in their eagerness to delight in the creature instead of the Creator had conformed to this world, and are most appropriately called by the name of 'the world,' did not recognize Him, thus the Evangelist says, 'And the world knew Him not.' 3 Thus, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom was not able to know God. Why, then, did He come when He was already here, except that it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe? And how did He come but by'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us'? 4 Just as when we speak, in order that what we have in our minds may enter through the ear into the mind of the hearer, the word which we have in our heart becomes a sound and is called speech. Yet as into that sound our thought is not transformed but remains complete in itself, in the form of speech which enters into the ear not receiving any alteration in itself by the change, so the Divine Word, not being changed, yet became flesh that He might dwell among us. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Teaching, Book 1, Chap 10-13 1 1 Cor 1.25 2 1 Cor 1.21 3 Jn 1.10 4 Jn 1.14

Creation And Incarnation

Istae generationes coeli et terrae, quando creatae sunt, in die qua fecit Deus coelum et terram, et omne virgultum agri, omnemque herbam regionis, antequam esset super terram.   Superius septem dies numerati sunt; nunc unus dies dicitur, quo fecit Deus coelum et terram, et omne virgultum agri, et omnem herbam regionis. Hujus diei nomine secundum prophetiam omne tempus hujus vitae significatur, in quo coelum et terra factum, id est, in quo creaturae visibiles disponuntur. Sed quid sibi vult, quod nunc, nominato coleo et terra, adjecit virgultum agri et herbam regionis, et tacuit caetera quae sunt in coelo et terra, vel etiam in mari, nisi quia per virgultum agri invisibilem creaturam demonstrat intelligi, sicut est anima? Dicta autem est virgultum, propter vigorem vitae; herba, propter eamdem vitam nunquam marcescentem. Deinde quod addidit, antequam esset super terram, intelligitur antequam anima peccaret. Terrenis enim cupiditatibus sordidata, tanquam super terram nata, vel super terram esse, recte dicitur. Unde et adjecit: Nondum enim pluerat Dominius Deus super terram, quasi aperte diceret: Antequam peccaret anima, nondum nubibus Scripturarum pluviam doctrinae Dominus ad animam irrigandam concesserat; nondum propter hominem, qui est terra, Dominus noster nubem carnis nostrae assumperat, per quam imbrem sancti Evangelii largissimum infudit. Quod vero subjunxit: Et homo non erat, qui operaretur terram, quia nullus homo operatis est in virginem, unde natus est Christus. Ipse est enim lapis de monte abscissus sine manibus, id est, absque coitu et humano semine de virginali utero, quasi de monte humanae naturae, et substantiae carnis abscissus. Sed fons ascendebat de terra, irrigans universam superficiem terrae. Terra mater virgo Domini Maria rectissime accipitur, de qua scriptum est: Aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem. Quam terram irrigavit Spiritus sanctus, qui fontis et aquae nomine in Evangelio significatur. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Genesin, Caput II Source: Migne PL 83.215b-216b

These are the generations of heavens and earth, when they were created, on the day which the Lord made heaven and earth, and every crop of the field, and every plant of the land, before there was anyone on the earth. 1 Previously seven days were enumerated, now one day is spoken of in which God made heaven and earth and every crop of the field, and every plant of the land. By the name of this day according to prophecy every time of this life is signified, in which heaven and earth were made, that is, in which visible creatures are established. But what does he wish, when now, with the naming of heaven and earth, and the adding of the crop of the field and the plant of the land, there is silence about all the other things in heaven and on earth, or indeed in the sea, unless by the crop of the field it is indicated that unseen creation should be understood, like the soul? For the crop is spoken of on account of the vigor of life, the plants according to the same life never withering. Then because he adds, 'before there was anyone on earth,' is to be understood that time before any soul sinned. For the sordidness of desires is earthly and it is rightly spoken as being born on the earth and as being on the earth. Whence he adds, 'Not yet had the Lord rained upon the earth,' 2 as if it were openly spoken that before a soul sinned the Lord did not permit the rain from the clouds of the teaching of Scripture for the watering of the soul, and not yet did our Lord take up the cloud of our flesh for man who is earth, by which he poured forth the bountiful rains of the Holy Gospel. Since indeed it then says, 'And there was no man who worked the earth,' 2 because there is no work of man in virginity, whence Christ was born. He who is indeed the stone from the mountain which no hand had cut, 3 that is, without coitus and human seed He came from the Virgin's womb, as from the peak of human nature, and was cut from the substance of the flesh. 'But a fountain arose from the earth, watering all the face of the earth.' 4 And here the earth is rightly understood as Mary the Virgin Mother of the Lord, concerning which it is written, 'The earth shall open and send forth a Savior.' 5 Which earth is watered by the Holy Spirit, who by the name 'fountain' and 'water' is signified in the Gospel. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Genesis, Chap 2 1 Gen 2.4-5 2 Gen 2.5 3 Dan 2.34 4 Gen 2.6 5 Isaiah 45.8

Gate And Vessel And Cloud

Ipse ergo rex Israel transivit hanc portam, ipse dux sedit in ea; quando Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis, quasi Rex sedens in aula regali uteri virginalis, vel in olla ferventi, sicut scriptum est: Moab aula spei, vel olla spei meae. Utrumque enim diversis in codicibus invenitur. Aula regalis est virgo, quae non est viro subdita, sed Deo soli. Est et olla uterus Mariae, quae Spiritu ferventi qui supervenit in eam, replevit orbem terrarum, cum perperit Salvatorem. Qui manducavit in porta sedens, utique cibum illum de quo dicit: Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem Patris mei qui in coelo est. O divitias Marianae virginitatis. Quasi olla ferbuit, et quasi nubes pluit in terras gratiam Christi; scriptum est enim de ea: Ecce Dominus venit sedens super nubem levem. Vere levem quae conjugii onera nescivit: vere levem, quae levavit hunc modum de gravi foenore peccatorum. Levis erat, quae remissionem peccatorum utero gestabat. Denique levavit Joannem in utero constitutum, qui ad vocem ejus exsilivit, et infans exsultavit in gaudio, prius sensu devotionis quam spiritus infusione vitalis animatus. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Institutione Virginis et Sanctae Mariae Virginitate Perpetua ad Eusebium, Caput XII-XIII Source: Migne PL 16 324c-325b

Therefore the King of Israel Himself passed through this gate, the leader himself sat there, 1 when 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,' 2 as the king sitting in the chamber of the royal womb of the Virgin, or in a heated vessel, as it is written, 'Moab is the chamber of my hope,' or 'the vessel of my hope,' 3 both variants being found in the books. The royal chamber is the Virgin, she who was bound to no man, but God alone. The womb of Mary is the vessel which by the blazing Spirit who came upon her filled the orb of the earth when she bore the Saviour. He who ate sitting in this gate, 4 that food concerning which it is said, 'My food is that I do the will of my Father who is in heaven.' 5 O rich virginity of Mary! As a vessel that gives warmth, and as a cloud which rains on earth the grace of Christ, for it is written: 'Behold the Lord comes sitting on a light cloud.' 6 And truly light she was who did not know the burdens of coupling, truly light she was who lifted up this way from the heavy debt of sinners. Light she was who bore the forgiveness of sins in her womb. And then she lifted up John who was in the womb, he who quickened to her voice, an infant leaping in joy, 7 before sense being animated with the infusion of the living Spirit. Saint Ambrose, On The Birth of the Virgin and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, to Eusebius, Chap 12-13 1 Ez 44.2-3  2 Jn 1.14  3 Ps 59.10  4 Ezek 44.3  5 Jn 4.34  6 Isaiah 19.1  7 Lk 1.41

Creator And Created

Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας τὸ ἐκ τῆς παροιμίας ὅτι Κύριος ἔκτισέ με καὶ διὰ τοῦτο νομίζοντας ἰσχυρόν τι λέγειν περὶ τοῦ κτιστὸν εἶναι τὸν πάντων κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν ταῦτα προσήκει λέγειν ὅτι πολλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο ὁ μονογενὴς θεός· καὶ γὰρ καὶ λόγος ὢν σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ θεὸς ὢν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο καὶ ἀσώματος ὢν σῶμα ἐγένετο καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ἁμαρτία καὶ κατάρα καὶ λίθος καὶ ἀξίνη καὶ ἄρτος καὶ πρόβατον καὶ ὁδὸς καὶ θύρα καὶ πέτρα καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἐγένετο οὐδὲν τούτων τῇ φύσει ὤν, ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς κατ' οἰκονομίαν γενόμενος. Ὥσπερ οὖν λόγος ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο σὰρξ καὶ θεὸς ὢν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο, οὕτω καὶ κτίστης ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς κτίσις ἐγένετο· κτιστὴ γὰρ ἡ σάρξ. Ὡς οὖν εἶπε διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὅτι Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ πλάσας με ἐκ κοιλίας δοῦλον αὐτοῦ, οὕτως εἶπε καὶ διὰ τοῦ Σολομῶντος τὸ Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ κτίσις δουλεύει, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τῆς παρθένου πλασθεὶς κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ προφήτου ὁ δοῦλός ἐστιν, οὐχ ὁ Κύριος, τουτέστιν ὁ κατὰ σάρκα ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη, καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ κτισθεὶς εἰς ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ οὐχ ὁ θεός ἐστιν ἀλλ' ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐπὶ τῷ τὴν καταφθαρεῖσαν ὁδὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σωτηρίας πάλιν ἀνανεώσασθαι. Ὥστε ἐπειδὴ δύο περὶ Χριστοῦ γινώ σκομεν, τὸ μὲν θεῖον τὸ δὲ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐν μὲν τῇ φύσει τὸ θεῖον, ἐν δὲ τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τὸ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, ἀκολούθως τὸ μὲν ἀΐδιον τῇ θεότητι προσμαρτυροῦμεν, τὸ δὲ κτιστὸν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ λογιζόμεθα φύσει. Ὡς γὰρ κατὰ τὸν προφήτην ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ ἐπλάσθη δοῦλος, οὕτως καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶντα διὰ τῆς δουλικῆς ταύτης κτίσεως ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη. Ὅταν δὲ λέγωσιν ὅτι εἰ ἦν, οὐκ ἐγεννήθη, καὶ εἰ ἐγεννήθη, οὐκ ἦν, διδαχθήτωσαν ὅτι οὐ χρὴ τὰ τῆς σαρκικῆς γεννήσεως ἰδιώματα ἐφαρμόζειν τῇ θείᾳ φύσει. Σώματα μὲν γὰρ μὴ ὄντα γεννᾶται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς τὰ μὴ ὄντα εἶναι ποιεῖ, οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γίνεται. Διὸ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἀπαύγασμα δόξης αὐτὸν ὀνομάζει, ἵνα διδαχθῶμεν ὅτι, ὥσπερ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ λύχνου φῶς καὶ ἐκ τῆς φύσεώς ἐστι τοῦ ἀπαυγάζοντος καὶ μετ' ἐκείνου ἐστίν ὁμοῦ τε γὰρ ἐξεφάνη ὁ λύχνος καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ συνεξέλαμψεν, οὕτω κελεύει καὶ ἐν ταῦθα νοεῖν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱὸς καὶ οὐδέποτε χωρὶς τοῦ υἱοῦ ὁ πατήρ· οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ γὰρ ἀλαμπῆ εἶναι τὴν δόξαν, ὡς οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ ἄνευ ἀπαυγάσματος εἶναι τὸν λύχνον. Δῆλον δὲ ὅτι, ὥσπερ τὸ εἶναι ἀπαύγασμα μαρτυρία ἐστὶ τοῦ καὶ τὴν δόξαν εἶναι, μὴ γὰρ οὔσης τῆς δόξης οὐκ ἂν εἴη τὸ ἐκ ταύτης ἀπαυγαζόμενον, οὕτω τὸ λέγειν μὴ εἶναί ποτε ἀπαύγασμα ἀπόδειξίς ἐστι τοῦ μηδὲ τὴν δόξαν εἶναι, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν τὸ ἀπαύγασμα· τὴν γὰρ δόξαν ἄνευ ἀπαυγάσματος εἶναι ἀμήχανον. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος λέγειν ὅτι εἰ ἦν, οὐκ ἐγένετο, καὶ εἰ ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἦν, οὕτω μάταιόν ἐστι περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ταῦτα λέγειν, διότι ὁ υἱός ἐστι τὸ ἀπαύγασμα. Οἱ δὲ τὸ μικρότερον καὶ τὸ μεῖζον ἐπὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς λέγοντες διδαχθήτωσαν παρὰ τοῦ Παύλου μὴ μετρεῖν τὰ ἀμέτρητα· ὁ γὰρ ἀπόστολος τὸν υἱὸν χαρακτῆρα λέγει τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποστάσεως. Δῆλον οὖν ὅτι, ὅση ἂν ᾖ ἡ ὑπόστασις ἡ τοῦ πατρός, τοσοῦτος καὶ ὁ χαρακτήρ ἐστι τῆς ὑποστάσεως· οὐ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται μικρότερον εἶναι τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς θεωρουμένης ἐν αὐτῷ ὑποστάσεως. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἰωάννης τὰ αὐτὰ διδάσκει λέγων ὅτι Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν. ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν καὶ οὐχὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀρχήν, ἔδειξεν ὅτι οὐδέποτε ἄλογος ἦν ἡ ἀρχή. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἀποδεῖξαι, ὅτι καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, τὸ ἀνελλιπὲς τοῦ υἱοῦ ὡς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἐσήμανεν· ὅλῳ γὰρ τῷ θεῷ ὅλος συνθεωρεῖται ὁ λόγος. εἰ γὰρ ἐλλιπὴς ἦν ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ μεγέθει ὁ λόγος, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι πρὸς ὅλον τὸν θεὸν εἶναι, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἄλογον εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ νομίζειν τὸ ὑπερεκπίπτον τοῦ λόγου. Ἀλλὰ μὴν πάσῃ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ μεγαλειότητι ἡ τοῦ λόγου μεγαλειότης συνθεωρεῖται. ἄρα οὐκ ἔχει χώραν ἐπὶ τῶν θείων δογμάτων τὸ μεῖζον λέγειν καὶ τὸ μικρότερον. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Περί Πίστεως Προς Συμπλικιον Source: Migne PG 45 137b-140c

But against those who quote from  Proverbs: 'the Lord created me,' 1 and by this think that they speak forcefully of the creation of the Creator and Maker of all things, we are forced to say that the Only-begotten God was made for us many things. For He was the Word and was made flesh; and He was God and was made man; and He was without body and was made a body; and besides He was made 'sin,' and 'a curse,' and 'a stone,' and 'an axe,' and 'bread,' and 'a lamb,' and 'a way,' and 'a door,' and 'a rock,' and many such things, not by nature being any of these, but being so for us by way of dispensation. As, then, being the Word, He was for us made flesh, and being God was made man, so being the Creator, He was made for us a creature, for the flesh is a thing created. As, then, He said by the Prophet: 'Thus says the Lord, He that formed me from the womb to be His servant.' 1 Thus He said also by Solomon, 'The Lord created me as the beginning of His ways, for His works.' 3 For all creation, as the Apostle says, is in servitude, 4 therefore both He who was formed in the Virgin's womb, according to the word of the Prophet, is the servant and not the Lord, that is to say, the man according to the flesh in whom God was manifested, and also, in the other passage, He Who was created as the beginning of His ways is not God but the man in whom God was manifested to us for the renewing again of the ruined way of man's salvation. Thus, since we recognize two things in Christ, one Divine, the other human, the Divine by nature, but the human in the Incarnation, we accordingly assert for the Godhead that which is eternal and that which is created to the human nature. For as, according to the Prophet, He was formed in the womb as a servant, so also, according to Solomon, He was manifested in the flesh by means of this servile creation. But when they say, 'if He was, He was not begotten, and if He was begotten He was not,' let them learn that one must not ascribe what belongs to the corporeal nature to the Divine nature. For bodies which do not exist are generated, and God makes things to be which are not, but He does not come into being from that which is not. Because of this Paul calls Him 'the brightness of glory,' 5 that we may learn that as the light from the lamp is of the nature of that which gives brightness, and is with it, for as soon as the lamp appears the light that comes from it instantly shines out, so here the Apostle would have us consider that the Son is of the Father, and that the Father is never without the Son, for it is impossible that glory should be without radiance, just as it is impossible that the lamp should lack brightness. But it is clear that as His being brightness is witness to Him and the glory, for if the glory were not, there would be no brightness from it, so it is that to say that the brightness once was not is a declaration that the glory also was not, that is, when the brightness was not, for it cannot be that the glory should be without the brightness. As therefore it is not to be said of the brightness, 'If it was, it did not come into being, and if it came into being it was not,' so it is in vain to say this of the Son, since the Son is the brightness. And let those who speak of less and greater concerning the Father and the Son learn from Paul not to measure the immeasurable. For the Apostle says that the Son is the sure impress of the Person of the Father. 5 It is clear then that however great may be the Person of the Father, so great is the impress of that Person, for it is not possible that the sure impress should be less than the Person contemplated in it. And the great John also teaches these things when he says, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.' 6 For saying that He was in the beginning and not after the beginning, he showed that the beginning was never without the Word, and in declaring that the Word was with God, he signified the absence of defect in the Son in relation to the Father, for in the whole of God the Word is contemplated as a whole, for if the Word were deficient in His own greatness so as to be incapable of being with the whole of God, one must think that that part of God which is without the Word is beyond the Word. But in truth the whole magnitude of God is contemplated with the whole magnitude of the Word, thus there is no space in speaking of the Divine to speak of greater and less. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, from On the Faith, To Simplicius  1 Prov 8.28  2 Isaiah 49.5  3 Prov 8.28 4 Rom 8.21  5 Heb 1.3 6 Jn 1.1

About Sons

Sed Ecclesiastica fide et Dei Patris et David idem atque unus est Filius; quia incarnationis Dei mysterium universae salus est creaturae; secundum quod scriptum est: Ut sine Deo pro omnibus gustaret mortem, id est, quod creatura omnis sine passione aliqua divinitatis Dominici sanguinis redimenda sit pretio, ut alibi habet: Omnis creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis. Aliud est igitur secundum divinam substantiam, aliud secundum susceptionem carnis Filium nominari: nam secundum generationem divinam Deo Patri aequalis est Filius, et secundum susceptionem corporis Deo Patri servus est; quia formam servi, inquit, accepit: unus tamen atque idem est Filius. Contra autem sancto patriarchae David secundum gloriam suam Dominus est, secundum corporalis successionis seriem filius est, non deficiens a se, sed nostrae ius sibi adoptionis acquirens. Nec solum ex genere David servitutem suscepit in persona hominis; sed etiam ex nomine, sicut habes: Inveni David servum meum; et alibi: Ecce ego mittam ad vos servum meum, Oriens nomen est ei. Et ipse Filius ait: Sic dicit Dominus, qui finxit me ex utero servum sibi, et dixit mihi: Magnum tibi est vocari puerum meum. Ecce posui te in testamentum generis mei, in lucem gentium; ut sis in salutem usque ad extremum terrae. Cui hoc dicitur, nisi Christo? Qui cum in forma Dei esset, exinanivit se, et formam servi accepit. Quid est in Dei forma, nisi in divinitatis plenitudine? Disce igitur quid sit: Formam servi accepit, id est, plenitudinem perfectionis humanae, plenitudinem obedientiae. Ideoque dicit in Psalmo trigesimo: Statuisti in loco spatioso pedes meos. Super omnes inimicos meos factus sum opprobrium. Illustra faciem tuam super servum tuum. Servus dictus est homo, in quo sanctificatus est: servus homo, in quo unctus est: servus homo, in quo factus sub Lege, factus ex Virgine est; et ut compendio dicam, servus dictus est, in quo matrem habet, sicut scriptum est: O Domine, ego servus tuus, ego servus tuus, et filius ancillae tuae; et alibi: Afflictus sum et humiliatus sum nimis. Quis nimis humiliatus est, nisi Christus, qui venit ut omnes liberaret per obedientiam? Sicut enim per inobedientiam unius hominis peccatores constituti sunt plurimi, ita et per unius obedientiam iusti constituentur multi. Quis calicem salutarem accepit, Christus princeps sacerdotum, an David, qui neque sacerdotium habuit, neque passionem subiit? Quis sacrificavit hostiam laudis? Sed si hoc parum est, accipe aliud: Custodi animam meam, quoniam ego sanctus sum. Numquid de se hoc diceret David? Sed ille dicit, qui ait: Non derelinques animam meam in inferno, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. Idem ergo utrumque dicit. Addidit vero: Salvum fac servum tuum; et infra: Da postestatem puero tuo, et filio ancillae tuae; et alibi, id est, in Ezechiele: Et suscitabo super eos pastorem unum, et reget eos servus meus David. Ipse pascet eos, et erit eorum pastor: et ego Dominus ero illis in Deum, et servus meus David in medio eorum princeps. Utique David iam defunctus erat, filius Iesse. De Christo itaque dicit, qui propter nos filius ancillae factus est, secundum formam hominis; nam secundum divinam generationem non matrem habet, sed Patrem: nec corporalis ventris est fructus, sed sempiterna Dei virtus. Ergo etiam illud cum legimus quia dixit Dominus: Tempus meum nundum impletum est, et: Adhuc modicum vobiscum sum, et: Vado ad eum qui misit me, et: Clarificatus est Filius hominis, ad incarnationis sacramentum referre debemus. Cum autem legimus: Et Deus clarificatus est in eo, et Deus clarificavit eum; quid ibi est quaestionis, ubi et Filius clarificatur a Patre, et Pater clarificatur a Filio? Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Fide Ad Gratianum Augustum Liber V, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 16.670b-672a

But in the faith of the Church of God the son of the Father and David is one and the same. For the mystery of the Incarnation of God is the salvation of every created thing, according to which it is written: 'That without God for all He should taste death;' 1 that is, that every creature might be redeemed without any suffering with the price of the blood of the Lord's Divinity, as it has elsewhere: 'Every created thing shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.' 2 It is one thing to be named Son according to the Divine Substance, another to be so named according to the adoption of human flesh, for according to the Divine Generation, the Son is equal to God the Father, and, according to the adoption of a body, He is a servant to God the Father. 'For,' it says, 'He took upon Him the form of a servant.' 3 However one and the same is the Son. On one hand, according to His glory, He is Lord to the holy patriarch David, but according to bodily descent his Son, not thus abandoning anything of His own, but acquiring for Himself the rights that go with the adoption of our race. Not only does He take up servitude in the character of man by His descent from David, but also by His name, as it says: 'I have found David My Servant;' 4 and elsewhere: 'Behold I will send to you My Servant, the Orient is His name.' 5 And the Son Himself says: 'Thus says the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be His servant, and said to me: It is a great thing for you to be called my Son. Behold I have set you up as a witness for My people, a light to the Gentiles, that You may be for salvation to the ends of the earth.' 6 To whom is this said, unless Christ? He who being in the form of God, emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant. 7 And what is 'in the form of God,' if not in the fullness of the Godhead? Learn, then, what this means: 'He took upon Himself the form of a servant.' That is, the completeness of the perfections of humanity, and completeness of obedience. And so it says in the thirtieth Psalm: 'You have set my feet in a wide space. I am made a reproach over all my enemies. Make Your face shine upon Your servant.' 8 Servant means the Man in whom He was sanctified, the servant Man in whom He was anointed, the servant Man in whom He was made under the law, made from the Virgin, and, to be brief, it means the servant in whom He has a mother, as it is written: 'O Lord, I am Your Servant, I am Your Servant, and the Son of Your hand-maid;' 9 and elsewhere: 'I am cast down and greatly humbled.' 10 Who is greatly humbled but Christ, who came to free all through His obedience? 'For as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many will be made righteous.' 11 Who received the cup of salvation? Christ the High Priest, or David who never held the priesthood, nor endured suffering? Who offered the sacrifice of praise? But if this is insufficient, receive this: 'Preserve My soul, for I am holy.' 12 Did David say this of himself? No, He says it, who also says: 'You will not leave My soul in hell, neither will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.' 13 The same one then says both of these. He then adds: 'Save Your Servant;' and, further on: 'Give strength to your servant, and to the son of your handmaid;' 14 and, elsewhere, that is, in Ezekiel: 'And I will set up one shepherd over them, and my servant David shall rule them. He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them.' 15 Yet David the Son of Jesse was already dead. Therefore it speaks of Christ, He who for us was made the son of a handmaiden according to the form of man, for according to His Divine Generation He has no mother, only a Father, nor is He the fruit of a bodily womb, but the eternal Power of God. And therefore when we read that the Lord said: 'My time has not yet come;' and: 'Yet a little while I am with you;' and: 'I go to Him that sent Me;' and: 'Now is the Son of Man glorified;' we should refer all this to the mystery of the Incarnation. 16 But when we read: 'And God is glorified in Him, and God has glorified Him;' 17 what doubt is there here, where the Son is glorified by the Father and the Father is glorified by the Son? Saint Ambrose, from On The Faith, To The Emperor Gratian, Book 5, Chapter 8 1 Heb 2.9 2 Romans 8.21 3 Philipp 2.7 4 Ps 88.21 5. Zech 3.8 6 Isaiah 49.5-6 7 Philipp 2.6-7 8 Ps 30.9, 12,17 9 Ps 115.16 10 Ps 37.9 11 Rom 5.19 12 Ps 85.2 13 Ps 15.10 14 Ps 85. 2,16 15 Ezekiel 34.23-24 16 Jn 7.8, 7.33, 13.31 17 Jn 13.31

Two Adams

Duos homines beatus Apostlus hodie retulit humano generi dedisse principium, Adam videlict et Christum: duos homines pares corpore, sed merito dispares; compage membrorum tota veritate persimiles, sed ipso sui principio tota dissimiles veritate. Factus est, inquit, primus homo Adam in animam viventem, novissimus Adam in spiritum vivificantem. Ille primus ab isto novissimo factus est, a quo est et animam consecutus, ut viveret; hic est ipso se figuratus auctore, qui vitam non exspectaret ab altero, sed ipse vitam solus omnibus largiretur; ille vilissimo plasmatur ex limo, ex utero pretioso Virginis hic procedit; in illo terra mutatur in carnem, in isto caro promovetur in Deum. Et quid plura? Hic est Adam, qui suam tunc in illo cum fingeret imaginem collocavit. Hinc est quod ejus et personam suscipit, et nomen recepit, ne sibi, quod ad suam imaginem fecerat deperiret. Primus Adam, novissimus Adam, ille primus habet initium, hic novissimus non habet finem. Quia hic novissimus vere ipse est primus, ipso dicente: Ego primus, et ego novissimus. Ego sum primus, id est sine initio. Ego novissimus, utique sine fine. Sed non prius, inqui, quod spirituale est, sed quod animale, deinde quod spirituale. Prius utique terra quam fructus; sed non tam pretiosa terra quam fructus; illa gemitus exigit et labores, hic substantiam largitur et vitam. Merito propheta de tali fructu gloriatur, dicens: Terra nostra dedit fructum suum. Quem fructum? Illum nempe de quo alibi dicit: De fructi ventris tui ponam super sedem tuam. Primus homo, ait, de terra terrenus; secundus homo, de caelo coelestis. Ubi sunt qui conceptum Virginis, Virginis partum, mulierum partibus existimant exaequandum, cum illud de terra sit, hoc de caelo; hoc divinae virtutis sit, illud infimitatis humanae; illud sit in corpore passionis, hoc totum sit in tranquillitate divini Spiritus, humani corporis in quiete? Sanguis siluit, caro stupuit, soporata sunt membra, et aula Virginis tota est in coelesti commoratione suspensa, donec auctor carnis, carnis sumeret indumentum, et fieret homo coelestis, qui non solum terram redderet homini, sed homini donaret et coelum. Virgo concipit, Virgo paturit, Virgo permanet. Ergo virtutis est caro conscia, non doloris, quae magis pariendo integritatis augmenta suscipit, damna pudoris ignorat: testis potius sui partus existit, quae nullas partus pertulit passiones; et sacramentis coelestibus interfuisse se nova mater miratur, quae nascentis ordinem intelligit humanae consuetduinis nil habere. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CXVII, In Verba Apostoli: 'Factus est primus homo Adam in animam viventem etc' Source: Migne PL 52  520a-521a

The holy Apostle recounts that two men gave a beginning to the human race, that is, Adam and Christ, two men equal in body but unequal in worth, in the structure of members truly similar but most dissimilar in their beginnings. 'The first man Adam was made into a living soul, the last Adam into a life giving spirit,' he says. 1 That first one made by the last, from whom he received his soul that he live, the last fashioned by His own self who had not waited to receive life from another but alone gave it to all men. The first was shaped from vile mud, the last came forth from the Virgin's precious womb, in the former earth is changed into flesh, in the latter flesh is raised up to God. And what more? This last Adam is he who placed His own image in the first when He made him. That is why He takes up his form and receives his name, so that that which He had made to His own image not perish. The first Adam, the last Adam; the first one has a beginning, the last has no end. For in truth the last is first, with Himself saying, 'I am the first and the last.' 2 'I am the first' that is, without a beginning. 'I am the last' and so without an end. 'But it is not the spiritual that comes first but the physical and then the spiritual,' the Apostle says. 3 Certainly the earth is before the fruit, but it is not so precious as the fruit; the first exacts groans and toil, the latter gives substance and life. Rightly the Prophet glories in such fruit: 'Our earth has yielded its fruit.' 4 What fruit? Clearly that concerning which it says elsewhere: 'Of the fruit of your womb I will set on your throne.' 5 'The first man was from earth, earthly, the second man from heaven, heavenly,' the Apostle says. 6 Where are they who think that the Virgin's conception and the Virgin's giving birth are adjudged to be like other women when the latter are from the earth, the former from heaven, the former is by Divine power, the latter by human infirmity, the latter is in a body of passion, the former completely in the tranquility of the Divine Spirit and the peace of the human body? The blood was still, the flesh stunned, the limbs were put to sleep, 7 and the entire royal chamber of the Virgin was in suspense until the creator of flesh took up the garment of flesh to become the heavenly man who was not merely to restore the earth to men but also to give man heaven. The Virgin conceives, the Virgin gives birth, The Virgin persists. Therefore the flesh is conscious of virtue not suffering and by giving birth she receives an increase of chastity with no harm to her modesty, rather she is a witness of giving birth who suffered none of its pains, and the new mother marvels at having a part in the heavenly mysteries, understanding that the manner of her giving birth has nothing to do with the ways of men. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 117, On The Words of The Apostle 'The first man Adam was made into a living soul etc' 1 1 Cor 15.45 2 Isaiah 48.12 3 1 Cor 15.46 4 Ps 84.18 5 Ps 131.11 6 1 Cor 15.47  7 cf Gen 2.21

Two Types Of Sons

In hoc manifesti sunt filii Dei et filii diaboli ... Dilectio ergo sola discernit inter filios Dei et filios diaboli. Qui habent charitatem, nati sunt ex Deo. Qui non habent, non sunt nati ex Dei. Quidquid vis habe, hoc solum si non habeas, nihil tibi prodest. Alia si non habeas, hoc habe, et implesti legem. Qui enim diligit proximum, legem implevit. Et plenitudo legis est charitas. Sanctus Beda, In Epistolam Sancti Joannis Source: Migne PL 93 102a

In this are made manifest the sons of God and the sons of the devil... 1 Love alone, therefore, distinguishes between the sons of God and the sons of the devil. They who have charity are born from God. They who do not have it are not born from God. Have whatever you will, if you do not have this, nothing will be of any benefit to you. If you do not have any thing else, have this, and you shall fulfill the law. For he who loves his neighbour, he fulfills the law. And the fullness of the law is charity. 2 Saint Bede,  from the Commentary On The First Letter of Saint John 1 1 Jn 3.10 2 Galat 5.14

Peace And Sons Of God

Sequitur, fratres: Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur. Magna dignitas paci studentium, cum filiorum Dei appellatione censetur. Bona quidem et haec pacificatio quae fit inter fratres, propter substantiam saeculi litigantes, aut propter vanam gloriam, aut simultates: sed parva haec merces; quia dixerat Dominus in exemplum nostri: Quis me constituit judicem aut divisorem super vos? Jam enim praemiserat: ablata tua ne repetas. Et alio loco: Quomodo potestis credere, gloriam ab invicem accipientes? Potior ergo et sublimior pacificatio intelligenda est a nobis; illam dicam, qua homines gentiles, qui inimici sunt Dei, per instantiam doctineae adducuntur ad pacem: qua peccatores emendantur, et Deo per poenitentiam reconciliantur; qua rebelles haeretici corrgiuntur; qua Ecclesiae discordantes ad unitatem pacemque formantur. Vere enim qui tales sunt pacifici, non solum beati sunt, sed digni merito filii Dei vocabuntur: ipsum enim Dei Filium Christum imitantes, qui pax nostra et reconciliatio ab Apostolo praedicatus est, societatem nominis ejus sortiuntur. Sanctus Chromatius Aquileiensis, Sermo De Beatitudinis Source: Migne PL 20.326c-d

It continues, brothers: 'Blessed are the peacemakers because they shall be called the sons of God.' 1 Great is the worthiness of those striving for peace, since they are given the name of sons of God. And certainly good is this peacemaking among brothers, who on account of worldly possessions fall into disputes, or do so for vainglory, or because of hostility, but little is this wealth, because the Lord says for our example: 'Who established me as a judge or divider over you?' 2 For already He had laid down: 'Yours which has been taken do not demand back.' 3 And in another place: 'How are you able to believe receiving honour from one another?' 4 Therefore a greater and more sublime peacemaking must be understood by us, that, I say, which leads gentile men who are enemies of God to peace by presentation of teaching, that which improves those who sin and by penance reconciles them to God, that which corrects rebellious heretics, that which forms to unity and peace sowers of discord in the Church. For truly they who are such peacemakers are not only  blessed but worthy to be named sons of God, for they are imitators of Christ the Son of God, who is our peace 5 and reconciliation, as preached by the Apostle, being appointed to the fellowship of His name. Saint Chromatius of Aquileia, from Sermon On The Beatitudes 1 Mt 5.9 2 Lk 12.14 3 Lk 6.30 4 Jn 5.44 5 Ephes 2.14

Three Commands

Contemplare viam, tene lumbrum, confortare robore vehementer, quoniam avertit Dominus contumeliam Jacob... Tria preacipiuntur Judae. Primum, ut contempletur viam, et iter per quod ambulaturus est, diligenter ascpiciat, juxta illud quod in Jeremia scriptum est: State in viis, et interrogate semitas aeternas, et videte quae sit via bona; et ambulate in ea: ut cum steterimus in viis multis, veniamus ad eam viam quae dicit: Ego sum via. Deinde dicitur ei, ut teneat lumbum, id est, ut post electionem viae mortificet corpus suum, et servituti subjiciat, ne quasi rex et magister aliis praedicens, ipse reprobus inveniatur. Longum est nunc dicere, quod virtus diaboli vel maxime sit in lumbis, et quod ad David repromissio fiat: De fructu lumbi tui ponam super thronum tuum. Et illud Apostoli: Adhuc enim in lumbo patris sui erat Abrahae, Levi, quando ivit in occursum Abraham Melchisedech. Et quod Joannes zona pellicea cingitur, et quod a Salvatore discipulis imperatur: Sint lumbi vestri praecincti. Et Apostolus ad Ephesios: State ergo accincti lumbos vestros in veritate: licet enim ἄσκησις plurimum praestet, et vitae continentia super mortificatione lumborum; tamen nihil eos ita mortificat ut cognitio veritatis. Unde dicitur: Accingite lumbos vestros in veritate. Si enim veritas est Christus, qui tota in Christo mente credidit, lumbos suos mortificavit in Christo. Tertio praecipitur, confortate virtute nimis: elegisti, inquit, viam, tenuisti lumbum, assume virtutem: ut possis pugnare cum hostibus. Et ne forte diffidas, datur tibi causa cur speres: Avertit, inquit, Dominus contumeliam Jacob, sicut contumeliam Israel, Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam Migne PL 25.1244b-1245d

Contemplate the way, gird your loins and gather all your strength, since the Lord will take away the disgrace of Jacob like the disgrace of Israel...' 1 Three things are commanded Judah. First that he contemplate the way and diligently scrutinize the path on which he shall walk, according to which it is written in Jeremiah, 'Stand in the ways and ask after the eternal paths and see what might be the good way and walk in it.' 2 That when we have stood in the many ways, we come to that way which says, 'I am the way.' 3 Then it is said to him that he should gird his lions, that is, that after the choice of the way that he should mortify his body, and that he should subject it to discipline, lest as a king and teacher admonishing others, he is found worthy of reproof. 4 Too long would it be for me now to speak of what great power the devil has in the lions, and what was promised to David, 'From out the fruit on your loins I shall place on your throne. 5 And the Apostle: 'For yet in the loins of his father Abraham was Levi, when Melchizedek went to meet Abraham,' 6 And when John girded himself with a belt of leather, 7 and that the Saviour commanded his disciples: 'May your loins be girded.' 8 And the Apostle to the Ephesians: 'Stand thus with your loins girded in truth.' 9 for one may set asceticism over these many things, and the continence of life over the mortification of loins: however nothing so mortifies like the knowledge of truth. Whence it is said: 'Gird your loins in truth.' For if Christ is the truth, he who believes in Christ with his whole mind, mortifies his loins in Christ. Thirdly it is commanded, gather all your strength. You have chosen the way, it says, you have girded your loins, now take up virtue that you be able to fight with the enemy. And lest perhaps you hesitate, the reason is given why you should hope: 'The Lord takes away the disgrace of Jacob and the disgrace of Israel.' Saint Jerome, from the Commentary on Nahum 1 Nahum 2, 1-2 2 Jeremiah 6.16 3 Jn 14.6 4 1 Cor 9.27 5 Ps 131.11 6 Hebr 7.10 7 Mt 3.4 8 Lk 12.35 9 Ephes 6.14

Keeping The Spies

Haec quae prius idolis prostituta fuit meretrix impia, suscipens exploratores Jesu, facta est fidelis et casta: quos custodiens a persequentibus inimicis, non in inferioribus depositos obruit, sed in solario domus suae levatos latenter abscondit. Solarium vere propterea dicitur, eo quod solis lumine perfundatur. Quis est autem sol humani cordis, nisi ille de quo dictum est per prophetam: Timentibus autem nomen meum orietur sol justitiae, et sanitas in pennis ejus . De ispo sole oriente Zacharias in Evangelio sic prophetat: Quia visitavit nos oriens ex alto, illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent. Nam et Abacuc prophet Christi ascensionem et ordinis ecclesiastici firmitatem sub nomine solis lunaeque sic praedicat: Elevatus est sol, et luna stetit in ordine suo.  Cor ego uniuscujusque fidelis non incongrue spiritale solarium dicitur, quod solis illius superni radiis salubriter illustratur. Raab itaque meretrix quos exploratores Jesu in solario suae domus abscondit, utique in superioribus, hoc est spiritali scientia illuminati cordis intima dilectione continuit, ut propheticum illud eloquium operis veritate cantaret: In corde meo abscondi eloquia tua, ut non peccem tibi. Vera itaque fides, quae divinis eloquiis intimatur, tunc persequentibis non traditur, tunc in corde fidelium inviolata et incolumis custoditur, si non terrenis, et caducis, atque carnalibus, sed coelestibus et spiritalibus promissis animus perserveret affixus, nec contempletur quae videntur, sed quae non videntur: Quae enim videntur temporalia sunt, sicut ait Apostolus: quae autem non videntur, aeterna sunt. Caeterum quisquis propterea Christianam fidem tenet, ut res terrenas et transitorias acquirat, iste exploratores Jesu, non in superioribus domus suae, sed in inferioribus collocat; ubi cum fuerint positi, facilius et inveriri possunt ab inimicis et perimi. Omnis enim persecutor et inimicus Ecclesiae illos spiritaliter interimit, et ipsis ingerit aeternae mortis interitum, quorum cor invenerit terrenis et caducis rebus innexum. Sanctus Fulgentius Ruspensis, De Remissione Peccatorum, Lib I, Cap XXI Source: Migne 65 544d-545b

This woman who was an impious prostitute among idols, taking in the spies of Joshua, was made faithful and chaste, guarding them from the enemy who sought them, not driving them down into a room below, but sending them up to a high chamber of her house to hide them there. 1And indeed such a place is named a solarium because it is lit by the light of the sun. And what is the sun of the human heart, unless that concerning which it is said through the Prophet: 'On those who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise and healing is in its wings.'  2 And concerning the same rising sun Zachariah makes prophecy in the Gospel: 'For he has visited us rising from the height, to illuminate those who are sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.' 3 And the prophet Habakkuk speaks of the Ascension of Christ and the firmness of the ecclesiastical order under the name of the sun and moon: 'Elevated is the sun and the moon stands in its circuit.' 4 Thus it is not unreasonable to speak of the heart of one faithful as being spiritually lit by the sun, enlightened with the wholesome rays of the supernal sun. The whore Rahab thus hid the spies of Joshua in the sun room of her house, that is, in the high place, that is, the chambers of her heart were with spiritual illumination continually lit, that she might in truth have sung that prophetical verse: 'In my heart I have hidden your words, that I might not sin against you.' 5 Thus true faith, which the inspired speech intimates, is not then given over to persecutors, but is guarded in the heart of the faithful inviolate and unharmed, if the soul is firmly fastened not to worldly things, to fallen things, to flesh, but to heavenly and spiritual promises, not contemplating what is seen, but what is not seen, for what is seen is transient, says the Apostle, and what is not is eternal. 6 Whoever therefore holding the Christian faith, would acquire things worldly and transient, he sends the spies of Joshua not into the heights of his house but into the depths, where being placed, they are easily found by the enemy and seized. For every persecutor of the Church seeks to kill them spiritually, and to bring them into eternal death, which is found in the heart bound to worldly and fallen things. Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, On the Forgiveness of Sins, Book 1, Chap 21 1 Joshua 2. 1-6 2 Malac 4.2 3 Luc 1.78-79 4 Habac 3.11 LXX 5 Ps 118.11 6 2 Cor 4.18

Grief And Blessings

Ἐκάθισεν Ἰερεμίας κλαίων. Τὸν ἐξ ἀγάπης κλαυθμὸν μακαριζόμενον. Τοῦ γὰρ ἀγίου ἐστὶ, κλααιειν μετὰ κλαιόντων, καὶ χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ  Ἐγγίζων τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὁ Κύριος ἔκλαυσε καὶ εἴπεν·  Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ.  Εἰ τοίνυν μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, ὅτι γελάσετε, ἔδει Ἰερεμίαν τὸν μυστικὸν τοῦτον κλαῦσαι κλαυθμὸν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, πενθῆσαι τοὺς τοῦ πενθεῖσθαι ἀξίους. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαι Εἰς Θρηνους Source: Migne PG 13 608c-d

Jeremiah sat and wept. 1 He who grieves on account of love is blessed. It is of the holy man to weep when others weep, to rejoice when they rejoice. 2 On the same:  Nearing Jerusalem the Lord wept and said, 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning those sent out to her, how often have I wished to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and you did not wish it.' 3 If they are blessed who grieve because they will laugh, 4 thus it befits Jeremiah to bring forth this holy weeping, and according to 'Blessed are those who weep,' so it is to lament those things worth lamenting. Origen, Commentary On Lamentations, Fragment 1 Lam 1.Prologue 2 Rom 12.13 3 Mt 23. 37 4 Lk 6.21

Belief And Judgement

Dicit enim Scriptura per Esaiam: Omnis qui credit in illum, non confundetur. Dum enim examen coeperit fieri omnium rerum in die judicii, et omnia falsa commenta vel dogmata in confusionem deduci; tunc in Christum credentes tripudiabunt, videntes omnibus manifestari quia quod crediderunt, verum est: et prudens, quod stulum putabatur. Aspicient enim inter caeteros se solos gloriosos et prudentes, qui aestimati fuerant contemptibiles et stulti. Illic est enim vera approbatio, ubi remuneratio et condemnatio. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Caput X Source: Migne PL 17 144a-b

For Scripture says by Isaiah: 'All who believe in Him, shall not be confounded.' 1 For when the examination of all things has begun on the day of judgement, and all false works and false teaching have been led off in confusion, then those who believe in Christ shall rejoice, when all things are made clear they will see that what they believed is true, and that he is wise who was thought foolish. For they shall see among the others with them only the glorious and wise, they who were once judged to be contemptible and stupid. For there is true approval, where there is reward and damnation. Ambrosiaster, from the Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul To The Romans, Chapter 10 1 Isaiah 18.26, Rom 10.11

Great And Fearful

Ὁ θεὸς ἐνδοξαζόμενος ἐν βουλῇ ἁγίων μέγας καὶ φοβερὸς ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ... Και τοὶς ἐναντίοις δὲ κολάσεις ἐπιφέρων, ἔστι φοβερός. Πελάζων γάρ τις αὐτῶν διὰ τοῦ τὴν θείαν δέδεκται διδασκαλίαν, τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐγγὺς γίνεται τοῦ πυρός. Διό φησιν ὁ Σωτήρ· Ὁ ἐγγὺς μου, ἐγγὺς τοῦ πυρός· ὁ δὲ μακρὰν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλείας. Καὶ νῦν οὖν φησὶ τοῖς περικύκλῳ τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ παρακούσουσι, φοβερὸς μέγας ὄντως τοῖς δι' ἀρετὴν ἀντεχομένοις αὐτοῦ. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΠΗ' Migne PG 39.1488

God is glorified in the council of the holy, great and fearful to all who stand around him...1 And to those opposed, to whom shall come punishment, He is fearful. For if they are near to Him who are instructed in the Divine disciplines, then he who sins is near the fire. For which reason the Saviour said: 'He who is near me is near the fire; he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.' 2 And now then this speaks to those who in the circuit of His commandments are negligent, for truly 'great and fearful' He is to those who are adversaries to virtue. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 88 1 Ps 88.8 2 Pseudo-Gospel of Thomas 88

Correcting The Fallen

Praeterea monachorum quosdam atque monacharum, abjecto proposito sanctitatis, in tantam potestatis demersos esse lasciviam, ut prius clanculo, velut sub monasteriorum praetextu, illicita ac sacrilega se contagione miscuerint, postea vero in abruptum conscientiae desperatione perducti de illicitis complexibus libere filios procrearint, quod et publicae leges, et ecclesiastica jura condemnant: has igitur impudicas detestabilesque personas a monasteriorum coetu, ecclesiarumque conventibus eliminandas esse mandamus, quatenus retrusae in suis ergastulis tantum facinus continua lamentatione deflentes, purificatorio possint poenitudinis igne decoquere, ut eis vel ad mortem saltem, solius misericordiae intuitu per communionis gratiam possit indulgentia  subvenire. Pape Siricius Epistola Decretalis Papae Siricii Himerio Episcopo Tarraconensi Source: Migne PL 13.1137b-c

Moreover those certain monks and nuns, who having cast off the way of holiness, plunged into such great wantonness that first in secret, as it were under the veil of the monasteries, they embroiled themselves in forbidden and sacrilegious affairs, but later, led on swiftly by abandonment of conscience, they freely produced children by illicit intercourse, which both civil laws and ecclesiastical rules condemn, these shameless and detestable persons, therefore, we command should be banished from the community of monasteries and the congregations of churches, so that having been thrust away into their imprisonment, bewailing with constant lamentation their crimes, they can roast in the purifying fire of repentance, that at least at death, out of consideration of mercy alone, forgiveness through the grace of communion can come to their aid. Pope Siricius, from the Letter to Bishop Himerius of Tarragona